Windows Phone barely registers in the minds of customers looking to purchase smartphones. Most of the general populous walking into a mobile store these days has already predetermined that they will select an iPhone or one of the members from the growing Android Army. RIM's Blackberry OS and Windows Phone are continuing to take a backseat in the lucrative smartphone market.

In a recent launch event in Israel, Ballmer seemed to disregard RIM and said that Microsoft is working with a number of OEM partners to make Windows Phone 8 a "really strong third participant" in the market.

Ballmer also went on to say that Windows Phone is "still relatively small", but that he "Expect[s] the volumes on Windows Phone to really ramp quickly."

When it comes to enthusiasm for the platform, we know that Ballmer is all in. The boisterous CEO recently narrated a commercial that showcases the highlights of Windows Phone 8.

The old money grab for carriers used to be SMS and phone but they've almost completely phased this out for smart phones. The new "family share plans" that the carriers are pushing include unlimited talk/text, exorbitant charges for data, and low data usage ceilings. Five years ago you may have been correct but the model has changed. Carriers want you to use more data because then they can charge you more. Skype is no longer an enemy but an excellent means to sell customers more data.

Even for non share plans the prices for talk/text have bottomed out. They are clearly targeting data as their main revenue draw.

For what it's worth: My Droid X came with Skype Mobile pre-installed. Not sure if it came from Verizon or Motorola.